Walter's Rebellion
Walter's Rebellion was a 16-month Dornish civil war between House Yronwood and House Martell, as well as a subconflict of the War of the Wicked. It largely devolved into a series of skirmishes and raids with little to no land gain for either side until The Battle of the Unbowed. Bittersteel's Offer The war was spurred when Aegor Bittersteel offered Walter Yronwood Lord Paramouncy of Dorne should he revolt against the Martells. Walter eagerly accepts, sending out ravens to all the major houses of Dorne (save for the Martells) requesting their assistance and raising a massive army of 12,000. The Prince's Response The Martells quickly hear of Walter's mutiny. Morgan Martell, Lord of Sunspear, raises an army of 16,500 from loyal houses to combat the rebel force. He initially plans to march on Yronwood in order to end the war with as little bloodshed as possible. Victor Toland, however, argues that Morgan must take this opportunity to teach the rebellious houses a lesson in order to stop them from raising arms against House Martell in the future. It is often speculated that Victor had some ulterior motives for this statement, as he later used the war to make personal gains. Lord Morgan agrees after some thought and instead marches on Sandstone. Walter's Strategy Lord Walter Yronwood realizes that any direct battle with House Martell would likely end in defeat. He splits up his army into several small battalions and begins raiding and plundering loyalist lands, sometimes consolidating several battalions into one to siege a major location. Through this strategy, House Yronwood sees resounding initial success. The frequent raids his battalions conduct make them largely self-reliant, saving the rebel armies money while the loyalists drained their pockets on Morgan's expensive siege of Sandstone. In response, Morgan splits his army into two parts and sends 6,000 men led by himself to chase down Walter's battalions. He entrusts the siege to Victor Toland's son Olyvar. Cat and Mice Martell's army of 6,000 manages to defeat 5 of Walter's battalions before Walter can react, resulting in 1000 Yronwood casualties and less than 50 dead Martell soldiers. Walter orders all battalions to flee to Yronwood in order to consolidate his men and challenge Martell's force. However, he also forces them to take bizarre pathways, with one battalion traveling first by sea around the tip of Dorne. Martell chases after some of Walter's battalions but soon realizes that his host is far too large to travel quickly enough to catch them. Therefore he divides his army into battalions slightly larger than Walter's and assigns them targets to chase. Although most of the Martell battalions win their respective battles, each side faces heavy losses. During this time, Martell forces lost 500 men while Yronwood forces lost another 700. Soon, however, Walter manages to consolidate his forces just outside of Yronwood. Morgan realizes Walter's plan too late, and Walter's host of around 10,000 crushes many of the individual Martell battalions before Morgan is able to order them to flee. Morgan loses 3,000 men before his battalions escape and regroup. Artos Sand, a cousin of the House Wyl, is knighted for his bravery in combat. The Sacking of Sandstone Back at Sandstone, Olyvar Toland orders an assault. His 10,500 men overwhelm Lord Qorgoyle's, and the city is quickly taken. Under his father's orders, Olyvar makes the assault and subsequent sacking chaotic in order to allow Toland's men to loot as much as possible. During the madness, Olyvar kills Lord Qorgoyle in single combat, sustaining severe wounds in the process, and imprisons the entirety of House Qorgoyle. This brings Qorgoyle troops out of the war. The Separations With Morgan's host crushed down to less than half its size, Walter again splits his army, this time granting each House's army autonomy. He leads a chase against Morgan's host with House Ladybright while Lord Dominic Uller decides to assault High Hermitage in order to capture family members of House Dayne and drag them out of the war. Other Houses essentially act as larger battalions, conducting minor raids on loyalist lands. Meanwhile, Olyvar Toland succumbs to the wounds he sustained during the Sacking of Sandstone. The representatives from each house squabble over who should lead, and things reach a standstill until it is learned that Walter had split his army into houses. Nothing happens at first, but then Lord Dayne, hearing of Lord Uller's assault on High Hermitage, takes his forces and marches to challenge Lord Uller. The rest of the lords use Walter's strategy as an excuse to do the same. Olyvar's host shatters into House armies. The Harrying of High Hermitage Lord Dayne nearly reaches High Hermitage to bolster its defenses but is preemptively struck by Dominic Uller's forces, resulting in the Battle of High Hermitage. Lord Uller, though outnumbered, conducts a non-stop aggressive series of charges against Dayne's forces, losing more men but breaking his enemy's morale and forcing a retreat. He then takes his troops and immediately marches back to the city of High Hermitage. Before Dayne manages to regroup his men 10 miles away, Uller assaults High Hermitage. Dayne, mistakenly thinking that Uller would simply continue his siege, takes three days to rest his troops before marching back. During this time, Uller not only captures the city but manages to get out a raven to nearby House forces. Houses Jordayne and Santagar respond and begin marching to High Hermitage. When Dayne reaches, he is shocked to find it captured by Uller. He begins to conduct a siege, unaware of the approaching army. When the Jordayne-Santagar forces arrive, Lord Uller orders a defensive strike, sandwiching the Dayne army between two enemy forces. Lord Dayne fights and nearly loses to Dominic Uller in single combat before rounding up his troops and fleeing. The capture of High Hermitage brings the Daynes of High Hermitage out of the war, but the main branch stays. This entire sequence of events is known as the Harrying of High Hermitage. The Period of Chaos With the troops in his command numbering around the same amount as Lord Yronwood's direct levies and his other host shattered, Prince Martell issues orders to his vassals telling them to meet his forces at Sunspear. To his outrage, all but House Dalt completely ignore his orders, as their "battalion" like behavior cost less and each House was busy engaging the enemy in minor skirmishes. Furthermore, many of his vassals had lost their trust in Prince Martell's command after seeing half his forces decimated. Lord Yronwood, however, was unaware of the loyalist internal fractioning and therefore did not consolidate his troops out of the paranoid fear that Prince Martell would do the same to his own and crush House Yronwood in direct combat. This time is known as The Period of Chaos, as it was most disorganized and split-up portion of the war, with no major events outside of the Weeping of Wyl. The Weeping of Wyl Ser Dickon Manwoody's scouts come across Wyl troops halfway through the period of chaos. Dickon waits until nightfall when the troops set up camp, and conducts a nighttime raid against the Wyl encampment, capturing Lord Wyl's youngest son. The Lord of Wyl wakes up and learns of the nearby Manwoody forces, as well as their kidnapping of his son. He rushes to meet them, finding them set up in a defensive position on a nearby hill. In front of the hill lay a flayed and decapitated body. Filled to the brim with pure rage, the Lord of Wyl orders a foolish assault against the Manwoody forces, resulting in their decimation. Prelude to the Battle of the Unbowed With House Wyl's large forces out of the equation, Lord Yronwood becomes desperate. He centralizes his army, hoping to defeat enough individual House armies to level out the playing field for direct combat. Prince Martell uses this to scare his vassals into obedience, and manages to consolidate his forces while having them avoid Walter's large army. Walter, again out of desperation, decides to risk meeting Prince Martell's forces and marches towards Sunspear. Morgan Martell meets him in the plains outside of Sunspear. The Battle of the Unbowed Prince Martell, knowing that his enemies were outnumbered, calls out for the rebels to surrender. He receives the now famous line, "A Martell isn't the only one who can be Unbowed." With that, the Battle begins.Walter Yronwood uses a defensive position and gives Artos Sand command of the right vanguard. Artos flanks the enemy, leading to massive Martell casualties. Morgan, however, pushes back Artos's troops, shifting the battle in his favor. He orders some troops to leave the center and go to the vanguard. Yronwood, however, sees what he's doing, bolsters the center, and charges. Yronwood's charge is largely unsuccessful, with large casualties on both sides. Prince Martell capitalizes on this by ordering his left vanguard -- lead by Lord Dayne -- to attempt to flank. The attempt fails, however, and Prince Martell takes heavy casualties. Ser Artos Sand searches for Prince Martell in the fight, hoping to end the battle by killing him. The duel between Sand and Martell ends with Artos knocking the Prince unconscious. He is about to deliver the killing blow but is stopped by Ser Dayne. The duel between Dayne and Sand ended with Lord Dayne ramming through Artos with his sword. Ser Dayne continued to defend the unconscious body of Prince Martell, killing five other major lords including Dominic Uller. Ser Dayne then took command of the Martell army and aggressively charged from all sides. The rebels lost the majority of their men from Ser Dayne's charge, and Lord Yronwood decided the only way to end the battle in his favor would be to kill Lord Dayne. He sought him out and challenged him to a duel. Both men were renowned for their dueling prowess, with Ser Dayne, in particular, earning the nickname "The Sword of the Morning". Some say that the duel lasted half an hour, while others claim it lasted nearly 4. The duel ends with Lord Yronwood losing his footing and being knocked to the ground and beheaded by Lord Dayne. And thus, the Battle of the Unbowed ends. Aftermath The heirs of all rebel houses, including Trevyr Yronwood, were taken prisoner until the end of the War of the Wicked. The resentment and interal conflict in Dorne rose to dangerous levels. Category:Wars and Battles Category:Dorne